Tuscan china marks

About R H & S L Plant

Tuscan China was the trade name associated with R. H. & S. L. Plant at the Tuscan Works in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent. The partnership was established in 1898, following earlier Plant family pottery businesses. The brothers purchased the works outright in 1914 and incorporated the company in 1915. Tuscan wares included tea and dinner services, souvenir miniatures, giftware and decorative porcelain models.

Crowned wings became a familiar feature of the company’s marks. Tuscan appeared in the wording from the early twentieth century, while later backstamps added PLANT or FINE ENGLISH BONE CHINA. The range combined traditional decoration with more modern forms and colours. A separate strong ceramic body was marketed as Metallised China for hotel and institutional use. During the Second World War the factory made undecorated domestic wares and canteen china for the armed forces.

The business joined with Susie Cooper’s companies under Tuscan China Holdings in 1958. Wedgwood acquired the holding company in 1966. Production continued under Tuscan and Royal Tuscan branding, with hotelware becoming increasingly important. Marks naming the Wedgwood Group therefore belong to the later ownership period. The Longton factory’s operations were phased out in the mid-2000s, ending a manufacturing history that had continued through several generations of the Plant family and subsequent corporate ownership.